Caduceus and Asclepius
by WanderingStarmaster
Summary: The team at Caduceus is sent a new patient, and find themselves on the cusp of secrets that some will do anything to keep hidden.


Here's a little something I recently came up with.

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The accident had been a large one. Multiple vehicles piled atop one another and massive injuries. The victims were sent to the closest hospitals and medical facilities in the Angeles bay area to be treated. As patients flooded into the operating rooms, the grim task of determining who could be saved and who could be not began. Though the doctors and nurses performed beyond expectations, there were some that were beyond even their considerable skills. Others would survive, but would suffer debilitations for the rest of their lives, while others simply had minor injuries that were taken care of then dismissed so the medical staff could concentrate on the more critically injured.

One patient, however, became the source of a mystery. She was a young business woman with blonde hair and medium height and build that had been pulled out of the very worst part of the accident. The fact that she was still alive was astonishing; the injuries she had sustained should have killed her. As it was she was currently in a coma as preparations for surgery began. The doctor who would be performing it had just finished cleaning up from the last patient when his assistant ran in breathlessly. She then began to tell him about an anomaly that had been located in the patient's body, producing first an x-ray image and then an MRI that showed…something.

The doctor looked them over for a few minutes, then back at his assistant.

"Is she stable enough to be transported?"

After receiving an affirmative, he directed, "Contact Caduceus."

Doctor Derek Stiles looked at the images that were posted on the board. Around him were his nurse, Angie Thompson, his colleagues Victor Niguel and Tyler Chase, as well as Tyler's nurse and assistant Leslie Sears. Also present were Robert Hoffman, the director of Caduceus USA, and Sidney Kasal. Collectively, the assembled were considered to be the most brilliant and capable medical professionals in the world, having solved many problems and curing illnesses that had left other doctors scratching their heads, including the dreaded GUILT virus, twice. But despite the years of training and experience, none of them had ever seen anything like what they now saw before them.

"It's not another form of GUILT, that's for sure." Victor observed.

"No," Derek concurred. "It looks more like some kind of parasite."

"Yeah," Leslie piped up, "but look how big it is. Something that size would be pulling so much out of her she'd be thin as a rake."

"That's not the only strange thing, look…" Dr. Kasal indicated where the parasite was attached, the back of the neck. "Have you ever seen a parasite in that position?"

There was a round of head shaking, then silence as they all considered the images before them. Then Derek spoke up again. "They're flying her over here?"

Director Hoffman responded, "Yes. She should be here within thirty minutes."

"They have already treated her injuries then?"

The director looked quizzical. "Actually they said it wasn't necessary."

"WHAT?" The others in the room were astonished.

"Why didn't they?"

"We have to do their jobs for them?"

"I thought she was critical!"

"You can't be in a crash like that without surgery."

The comments came in a deluge until Hoffman raised his hand. "I did go over this with them. They determined it was not necessary as she seemed to stabilize all on her own." He wrinkled his brow. "in fact, they report that she has been steadily improving since admission."

A stunned few seconds followed. "H-how?" Angie asked.

Hoffman shook his head. "I don't know. It doesn't seem possible. And yet there it is." He pointed at the display again. "That, however, has not changed, so we will have plenty to do." He turned to face the assembled doctors. Once he had seen them as young idealists, enthusiastic children for whom he was the schoolmaster, but now they were his colleagues, his equals…his friends. "Let's get ready."

Across town, the patient was wheeled on a gurney toward the waiting helicopter that would take her to Caduceus. The movement was noted by two separate individuals with two differing motives, each of whom immediately made a phone call on a secured line, one to a hidden facility beneath a typical office building, the other to the Pentagon.

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As always, reviews are appreciated, as are suggestions and appropriate medical terms and procedures.


End file.
